An Ancient Tale
by Sekhmet49
Summary: On how an ancient influence can shape the future... AU, slow Tom/Harry
1. Chapter 1

This is a story inspired by _Life as a snake_, published on by **FairyTails13**.

Starts in summer after 5th year, although the 2 previous years are AU, will be Tom/Harry & Harry/Tom

Disclaimer : Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling

**Hey people! Thanks to my wonderful new beta, here's the first chapter properly corrected.**

**The second one coming soon, and the third one is in progress!**

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><p><em><strong>An Ancient Tale :<strong>_

**Chapter 1 :**

So far, Harry's summer had been up to the standard of the last 2 years in Hogwarts – that is to say, horrible. You see, Harry Potter wasn't exactly a normal person. If you asked his relatives, he was a freak and a delinquent. If you asked people who were like him – which meant people in the Wizarding community, he was a celebrity and either a hero or a nasty liar, depending on the moment.

And if you asked Harry, well ...it depended on the situation he was in.

He could be either the Gryffindor Golden Boy and Dumbledore's pet, or a powerful young heir from several important families. But deep down, he was always going to be just Harry, an orphan who was hated by his relatives and forced to grow up too fast with a role placed upon his shoulders at the age of eleven, while a whole world filled with adults who were doing absolutely nothing but waiting for him to save them.

At the moment, he was cursing every single member of said Wizarding World, thinking of swear words that would have make the very prim neighbors of Privet Drive completely scandalized.

His misfortune (as in, what was making his life even crappier than usual...) had begun at the beginning of his fourth year, when he was unwillingly entered into the Triwizard Tournament as a fourth champion by a Death Eater disguised as Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody, who had been working on returning his master, Lord Voldemort, to his body. During the year, all his friends had, one way or another, turned their back on him – Ron, because of his petty jealousy; Hermione for his apparent disrespect of authority, and the entire school, because it was the fashion of the moment. He had to train a lot, alone, to be up to the level of three Seventh Year champions.

It was at this time that he changed his point of view towards his studies. It was not a matter of going through school anymore, but a matter of survival. And if Harry had learned one thing at the Dursleys', it was how to survive efficiently and how to avoid other people's notice. So, he decided to study and train himself regularly, mostly in DADA, Charms, Transfiguration and Potions, often until exhaustion took over, so that his magical skill level would improve enough for him to compete with the others.

All this was done in secret; not that it was so hard, with his own house dismissing him. However, it was only possible thanks to two components, the first of which was still faithful to him (and only to him, without expectations for a change); Dobby the house-elf, and the Room of Requirement.

All of his training, though, hadn't been enough to stop Voldemort from regaining his body.

Once said resurrection was done (in a cemetery, with a dead Cedric Diggory at his side, killed as a _spare_), he had returned to Hogwarts, only for the entire Wizarding World – with the exception of Dumbledore and his followers – to call him an attention-seeking liar (the fact he was already rich and famous conveniently escaped their notice...).

Then occured his 5th year of schooling; certainly the worst by far. The ministry had placed a member of their own inside of Hogwarts, Dolores Umbridge. She was a pink, toad-like woman with a very high, grating voice, who apparently had her own personal mission: to make his life Hell. This was probably due to the fact that he had escaped from his trial in August without any retribution, not that the charges had been justified (he had defended himself with a Patronus against a pair of dementors who had attacked him and his cousin in Privet Drive, though he still wondered how they had found him...). She had gone so far as to use a Blood Quill, a sadistic device that used the holder's own blood as ink, as his punishment during her blasted detentions. Evidently, none of the _adults_ had been very interested in his predicament, suggesting he _lay low_.

Moreover, as if that wasn't already enough, he had begun to experience a very strange series of dreams, prompting the beginning of these awful lessons in Occlumency (not that anyone saw fit to tell him _why_ he was having them...) with Snape. The worst was that, contrary to what he pretended to Snape and Dumbledore, he did _**not**_ fail in learning Occlumency, as he had begun its study the year before in order to improve his focus. However, he couldn't reveal his aptitude in the subject; they could not suspect any secret on his part. Besides, the lessons had ended rather abruptly, when he had been caught with his head in Snape's Pensieve, observing a memory of the Marauders that had soundly destroyed the ideal he'd had of his "perfect" parents. He'd felt so ashamed of his father after what he had seen; he had wanted to apologize to the Potions Master on behalf of the Potter's name, but had been certain Snape would have seen it as a prank instead.

Nonetheless, he had managed to survive the year, even if he should have known that Voldemort would have made his annual move against him; he always did...

Harry had been lured to the Department of the Mysteries, to take hold of a prophecy concerning both himself and Voldemort, under the pretense that his godfather had been captured.

It had been a rather obvious trap, but as no one had bothered to tell him that he _could_ receive false visions, or that Voldemort had wanted a prophecy related to the two of them, and with the knowledge that no adults would lift a finger (as always) he had flown (quite literally, and on thestrals, no less!) to the Ministry, where in the end, he had helped to capture several Death Eaters – but got his godfather killed.

Sirius Black had fallen through the Veil of Death. Thus had been destroyed the last remnants of longing for a family to belong to.

He had lost his only remaining family.

Then, Dumbledore had locked him in his office, to finally tell him the exact wording of the prophecy, before shipping him back to the Dursleys – _for his own safety,_ of course. What he didn't know was that Harry had found the time, while his _friends_ were recovering in the hospital wing, to go to the Room of Requirements and make several orders of books to be sent to him that night at Privet Drive; in particular, books on controversial subjects: Mind Arts, Blood Magic, Dark Arts, and Parselmagic. Obviously, most of his orders were for shops in Knockturn Alley, which is why he had ordered them under the false name of Leon Aspecto.

But getting back to the present, Harry was currently cursing his luck because, not only his relatives were absent at King's Cross Station but, once he managed to get there, he had discovered that the reason for it was because they had _SOLD THEIR HOUSE!_

Now fortunately, everything he owned was packed away in his modified trunk, but it was still vastly inconvenient to not have a place to stay. Therefore, he had summoned the Knight Bus, had given Ernie directions to the Leaky Cauldron, where, thankfully, the barman had given him a room.

It was an exhausted and cranky Harry who went immediately to bed afterwards, hating the entire horrible day. Although, he mused as he lay between the sheets, there was a definite upside to being free of Privet Drive...

Tomorrow he would go to Gringotts; it was high time he himself took charge of his life...

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><p>Leon Aspecto<p>

→ Leon = lion in Spanish

→ Aspecto = look in Spanish

→ the general meaning I wanted it to be :_ Looking like a lion_ to show his Gryffindor facade.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a story inspired by _Life as a snake_, published on by **FairyTails13**.

I thank my new beta Marwana for her wonderful work!

"**Parseltoungue"  
><strong>_"thoughts"_

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling

**Now the first two chapters are revised, and the third one is in writing, so be patient! ;-)**

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><p><em><strong>An Ancient Tale:<strong>_

**Chapter 2: **

The next morning Harry awoke to a sense of a new beginning, as cliché as it sounded. Of course, his good mood could be attributed to the complete silence in his room, with no Dursleys to wake him up by pounding on the door and no teenage snoring boys. Indeed, while Hogwarts was almost a home to him, he had always been a solitary person due to the Dursley's treatment both in the house and at school. Being alone all the time – because either he had been rejected or had learned very quickly that avoiding his relatives was beneficial for his health – had not taught him how to bear the presence of others constantly in his vicinity. Therefore, it was always a relief when he had managed to find some time on his own, and probably the only good thing about his summers as people avoided him like the plague all around Privet Drive thanks to his relatives' rumors on his account.

Harry decided to take his breakfast in his room, as he didn't want to be gawked at; breakfast which arrived shortly after giving his orders to a house-elf. By the way, he would never admit it to Hermione – she could be exceptionally scary when angry and indignant – but it certainly felt good to give orders instead of receiving them. Not that he would give ill-treatment to any House-elf he would come to own, but he rather liked the idea of someone else doing all the chores for once; an idea to pursue for his future home.

Speaking of home, acquiring or rehabilitating a property bought or already in his family's possession in order to make a real home for himself was among the imperative projects for his summer, both out of necessity and desire. As he was yearning for building his life the way he wanted to, the first step was undoubtedly to make sure he had a safe haven at his disposition. In fact, it was probably one of the most important things he wanted in his life, that and someone to love him, just Harry, even if he was really doubting that he could find that person in the wizarding world, so obsessed as they were with him. At the same time, he didn't think someone outside of that community would ever be able to embrace him as a whole, so his situation did not look promising…

After his breakfast of which he had shared a part of with his beloved Hedwig, he prepared for the day while making his to-do list in his head. Trying to find some clothes for the day that were not too much dilapidated he decided a whole new wardrobe would be an absolute must. He wanted to buy some new books even if he had received those he had ordered during the night, they were not enough. Hermione and others would never believe it but he was a real addict to books, well in reality more to knowledge as a general rule but it was the most common material. He also had to restock his potions ingredients, and had the plan to order a custom wand from Ollivander although without certainty as Harry was quite sure he would need some dark materials and there was a possibility that owning a second wand would be illegal… He also wanted to peruse among the different menageries, both in Diagon Alley and in Knockurn Alley; he loved Hedwig dearly but the appeal of a real familiar, compatible only to him and who would live as long as himself, had been growing rapidly since he had first read about the notion in one of his study session at the beginning of 5th year. But his first destination was Gringotts.

Half an hour later saw harry strolling through Diagon Alley toward the massive white building, face down, a cap on his head to try to hide his scar and untamable hair, his most recognizable characteristics. He passed the two goblins guarding the door making sure to give them a little bow, which apparently surprised them. Indeed, if he had learned one thing during his busy life, it was to never reject a potential ally on misconceptions; he had already made the mistake with the whole Malfoy-Weasley fiasco because he thought at the time this world would be different and his old set of rules would not apply, but he was not about to live with these disillusions any longer.

Upon his arrival in the lobby of the bank, he went to a counter deep in the hall, where there were less people likely to recognize him. He approached a goblin teller while trying to appear confident yet respectful at the same time.  
>"Greetings Master Goblin, I would like to meet my account manager as soon as possible" he asked even as he lifted his cap to show his telltale scar. The goblin in question observed him a moment, then replied:<br>"If you do not mind for a more… common method to verify your identity it may be possible. Use this Blood Quill to write what your full name is to your knowledge, if you are not who you claim to be it will be impossible for you to write that name."  
>Harry did as bid with of course no problem.<br>"Very well Mister Potter, Griphook will bring you to your account manager. Have a good day"  
>Harry then followed said goblin while pondering on the strange habit wizards had of being disdainful towards goblins whereas they are in charge of their fortune, it didn't make much sense. However this line of thoughts was soon interrupted when he realized Griphook was guiding him through a complete maze, making every hard learned survival instinct go haywire, which was apparently quite visible on his face.<br>"Do not worry Mister Potter hurting you would not be in our interests, therefore you have nothing to fear among these walls." Well at least he was honest…

They arrived after almost 5 minutes of walking in this sort of labyrinth in front of a massive double door with a plaque marked by the name _Shadowaxe_, doors that were practically humming with magic. He so wanted to know what kind of wards were placed on them (he had been extremely interested in wards since he had learned of Bill Weasley's job but hadn't found the time to study them yet).

Griphook opened the door for him only to arrive in front of a fierce looking goblin, not that goblins could appear any other way but this one was obviously a trained warrior. "Mister Harry Potter, Sir" then Griphook left them both after a short nod to Harry.

Harry stayed standing rather uneasily as he didn't know the correct protocol to follow. After a moment in silence, Shadowaxe finished what he was doing and lifted his head to regard Harry with a profoundly penetrating gaze.  
>"You may sit Mister Potter"<br>"Thank you …hem… I do not know how to address you…" added harry sheepishly.  
>"Shadowaxe will suffice Mister Potter." the goblin replied with a faint smirk.<br>Harry then steeled his nerves and after a deep breath began: "Very well Shadowaxe. Firstly I would like to apologize in advance for any… insults I could produce toward you and your race, I'm afraid to admit being completely ignorant in the ways of your society, seeing as I was raised among Muggles and Hogwarts doesn't teach anything about the customs of other races, in fact not even about wizards' customs" he finished grumbling.  
>"Indeed. Rest assured Mister Potter I will not resent you for any mishaps in the close future, though I'm sure you'll find a way to learn our ways quite soon…" was added with a definite scary smirk.<br>Harry deadpanned "Thank you so much"  
><em>"Hum… this young wizard seems interesting"<em> thought the goblin. "What may I do to be of service today Mister Potter?"  
>"Very well. I would like to go over the state of affairs of my Family. As you know I only recently managed to receive information about the old families and their ways and while I'm still far from being proficient in pureblood customs, I realized it was high time to see what exactly happened to my family fortune and properties. I also would like to read my parents' wills." <em>"Well, that is said at least…"<em>  
>The goblin regarded him a moment. "It seems to me Mister Potter that you have never read anything about your accounts in this establishment, is that true?"<br>"Indeed"  
>"Then there is an irregularity as Bank statements have been sent regularly to you over the years." was the tense reply.<p>

Shadowaxe mused a moment before coming to a decision.  
>"Mister Potter, I propose to you to submit to a Heritage Ritual. While normally a Blood Heritage Potion would be enough, I have a feeling that with your unpredictability it will not be sufficient. This ritual consists of taking some of your blood to mark the runes of a ritual circle around you, then with the correct incantations the ritual would be activated and makes the different symbols of the families you might be the heir of appear inside the circle. Of course a Blood Heritage Potion would also give us a recap of your abilities and other noticeable characteristics, but we could still use a variant of it to analyze your mind and magic at a later time. During this I could search for your parents' will and bring the history of bank statements you should have received."<p>

After a moment of reflection, Harry agreed for this course of action. Shadowaxe showed him to a ritual chamber close to his office, summoned a goblin Master in Runes and Rituals who took enough blood to draw the runes on the floor, intricate with a ritual circle set in the ground's stones. Finally it was time to activate the circle thanks to a long incantation in Goblin Language. As the incantation was coming to its peak, Harry could feel his magic respond to the call, from every part of his being, even from his blood which was somehow _humming _in reaction, making him feel as if he had some untapped power running through his veins.

Little did he know that the results of the ritual would change his life, without any possible return…

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

This is a story inspired by _Life as a snake_, published on by **FairyTails13**.

I thank my Beta Marwana who was a great help as usual!

And of course, thank you to those who put this story as an alert and/or favorite, thanks to all the reviewers!

"**Parseltoungue"  
><strong>_"thoughts"_

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling

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><p><em><strong>An Ancient Tale:<strong>_

**Chapter 3: **

The feelings this ritual engendered were absolutely incredible.

Harry could feel the powerful and ancient magic of Gringotts evoked by the goblin's incantation; his own magic's answer to the incantation was also extraordinary. Both magics were probing each other, to make sure no harm was upon him, and to verify the worthiness and motivation of his claim…  
>At some point, both magics came to a sort of agreement and a part of his own magic let a strand out to blend together with a strand of the probing magic.<p>

Harry could sense all of this; thanks to this ritual, he had just discovered how much more evolved his awareness of his magic could be. For once in his modest magical experience, magic didn't seem to be some sort of mysterious and out of reach entity, but a part of himself, an extension of his person, like an added limb to be trained and controlled. Harry didn't know it yet, but this understanding would make his future training far easier and would give him access to a world of possibilities regarding his magic's achievements. A world very few people got access to.

However, while Harry was pondering on his new experience, the phenomenon was not invisible. In fact Harry was surrounded by a bright swirling mist, and every occupant in the room could see the unusual events.  
>It was not a perfect fusion of both magics; you could still clearly see little particles of each magic; they were not of different colors. Yet looking at the bright cloud filling the office, you knew what was what. You didn't learn it anywhere, you just knew.<p>

Unfortunately, these high emotions could not last forever. Once its job was done, the probing old goblin magic receded in the walls and foundations of Gringotts, and the loose strand of Harry's magic returned to his body, leaving him irrevocably excited, almost high on the sensations.

When Harry managed to come down from this unexpected high, it was to find a surprised goblin, even if he almost managed to hide it, and several symbols inside the runic circle on the ground, which was still pulsing with raw magic.

Upon seeing his wondering face, Shadowaxe explained,

"The runic circle will not stop its activation as long as a decision has not been made considering each family symbol which appeared thanks to the ritual. The results should show you two different circles. The outer one is for Houses you could be the heir of; the inside one, for the lordships of the Houses you are eligible for."

Nodding his understanding, Harry examined the circle and its contents more closely. There were symbols placed on two different circles. On the outer circle was visible one coat of arms with a faint red lining and a whirlwind of black stars. On the inner circle were two more coats of arms, both outlined in a vivid red. A strange symbol; a vertical line inside a circle inside a triangle, as well as a griffin inside the symbol mentioned before, which was wrapped around the vertical line.

However the strangest phenomenon – he was Harry Potter after all – was the presence of another emblem at the center of the ritual circle, just in front of where he was standing. It was a coiled hooded cobra inside a pyramid outlined in red. The serpent had bright green eyes that seemed somehow alive, observing, analyzing him.

Once this first observation was done, the goblin continued his explanation.

"As you can see you are eligible to the role of heir to one House: the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, by magic, as showed by the faint red line. On the other hand, you are entitled to two lordships, Peverell and Potter, by blood, as you can see thanks to the vivid red line. However, this central symbol is most… unusual. It means this House is of the highest standing concerning both the chronology and the power.  
>It is an extremely old House.<br>This is the emblem for the House of Meretseger, a House created in Ancient Egypt for the chosen priests of the goddess Meretseger's cult. I will not be able to tell you much more about this House. All the families from this time were always extremely secretive. If you accept your place in the House, you will be able to enter the vault, where I suppose you will find answers."

After a pause to allow Harry to absorb this information, he continued.

"However, I can give you more details about the other families. You obviously know of the Potter family, which you are the heir of thanks to your father. The Black heirship was offered to you by the will of your late godfather, Sirius Black."

Here Shadowaxe paused a moment before looking Harry directly in the eyes and say softly: "I use this opportunity to offer you my condolences for the loss of your godfather. He spoke highly of you."

Harry could only nod silently. His throat was closed up; he wouldn't have been able to make a sound let alone a coherent sentence. He still hadn't grieved properly and now was certainly not the time. Shadowaxe seemed to understand his predicament as he continued without comment.

"The Peverells were ancestors of the Potters. It is said the three brothers were involved with the legend of the Deathly Hollows. We are not sure why none of the previous Potter males were eligible for the Lordship but it appears that you're now in this position. Now, do you have specific questions before your decision to accept these roles or not?"

After pondering for a while, Harry answered, "No, I think anything more specific regarding the families will be found in the vaults. Concerning the Houses of Potter and Black, I want to accept these titles whatever the outcome may be. They are my family. However, I'd like to know what exactly a Lordship or the title of Heir involves. Also, could this mysterious House of Meretseger be harmful to me if I was to accept the position?"

"To answer your last question first, no, accepting this Ancient House, or any House really, could not be harmful to you. You are a part of this family so worst was scenario is that you won't gain anything. The only possibility to be harmed by a House is for people who try to claim a place they are not eligible for. For instance, someone who tries out the Lord ring while not being eligible will have to suffer the repercussions. These vary between families, from a discomfort to pain comparable to the Cruciatus. As you have performed this ritual beforehand, you do not have the problem.

Now, about the titles of Lord or Heir. The duties and rights bestowed to the heir are specific to each House; therefore we are not aware of what it involves. However, relating to the Lordships, there are specific requirements that we do not know about, concerning duties, family magic, etc… There is also the political aspect since a Lord has access to the Wizenmagot. Apart from that, the role is not much different from what you expect a patriarch of a very wealthy and powerful family to be."

In his head, Harry mused the goblin was obviously underestimating the amount of consequences that accepting a Lordship had. Otherwise, people wouldn't be so attached to these ranks and there would be more of them.

"If you have not changed your mind about the Potter and Black offers, we can proceed further in the ritual."

As he was talking, Shadowaxe was bringing several intricate wooden boxes, each one of them with one of the symbols observed in the runic circle.  
>The account manager first opened the Potter one and presented it to him. Inside was a wrist band, made of platinum, with the Potter's coat of arms on the front.<br>Placing it on his left arm, Harry felt a rush of magic with a certain feel to it. Almost like recognition by his family. Definitely enjoyable.

Then, the process was repeated for the Black place, except that inside the box was a ring, made of silver, surmounted by an onyx of the deepest of black. He felt begrudging acceptance, but the sensation left in its wake was more of a surprised ease.

And lastly, a pendant with the Peverell symbol was put around his neck, giving him a sensation of freedom, acceptance, and dare he admit it, warm coldness! Like a chill down his spine, but a welcoming one.

Indeed, after accepting these three powerful emblems, he felt more and more complete, even if something was still out of reach. He could feel himself changing, or to be more accurate, accessing parts of him that were unknown or rejected by him previously, knowingly or not.

Strangely, the notion that an obviously dark family like the Blacks accepted him so readily did not perturb him that much. He should have been properly horrified. Actually, he should have freaked out by now…

He was once again interrupted in his musings by Shadowaxe,

"Now that these three families are once again fully active, I will, with your permission, conduct an audit for your estates. It will allow us to be firmly aware of the state of your affairs.

I will not look for a way to discover your abilities yet, as it is extremely probable that you will find the mean to do so in one or several of your families' vaults.

I propose you to visit your vaults while I will work on this inspection. You have a lot to discover in your ancestors' vaults. Can you agree with this?"

Harry could only nod. The events of the day were beginning to tire him out. Strangely, he was more exhausted by taking care of his own affairs than by fighting during another one of his adventures.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


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